No one was hurt, but a house was extensively damaged by fire, at
3:37 p.m. Sunday at 158 Kennedy St., on the corner of Kennedy
Street and Jackson Avenue.

According to Bradford City Fire Chief Bill McCormack, the fire
started in the basement of the home, co-owned by Brian Carey and
David McCready.

McCormack said the fire started from either a pellet stove or
wiring near the pellet stove in the basement, adding he was going
to have the state police fire marshal come today to help him
determine the cause of the fire.

According to McCormack, the fire spread underneath a stairwell
and up the three stories of the building by a shaft in the Bloom
construction.

Ron Orris of 159 Kennedy St. said the two owners of the house
were not at home when the fire started but that two dogs and a cat
were still inside the house. McCormack said both dogs and the cat
died in the fire.

Three neighbors first spotted the smoke coming out of the
house.

“I looked out and saw smoke pouring out of the side window,”
Orris said.

“It all happened in a matter of minutes,” Brian Vander Schee of
165 Kennedy St. said. “Smoke was coming out the front door.”

“Smoke was coming from the attic,” Phil Moran of 157 Kennedy St.
said.

Bradford City Police first responded to control traffic while
the Special Police were on their way to the scene. Then, Special
Police took over to redirect traffic.

McCormack said 15 firefighters from the city responded, and the
Bradford Township Volunteer Fire Department was on stand-by at the
city fire station. Tower 1, Engines 1 and 2, and two ambulances
responded to the scene.

The chief said when firefighters first arrived, the fire was
burning out to the sidewalk, 20 feet from the house.

“The whole front was engulfed in fire,” Vander Schee said.

Residents were gathered along the sidewalks of Jackson Avenue
and Kennedy Street to watch as firefighters battled the blaze.

Firefighters extinguished the flames from the front porch,
leaving the porch charred.

Bradford City firefighter Chris Angell fell through the floor on
the stairwell in the house and into the basement when they first
entered the house. Angell was not hurt.

Firefighters climbed a ladder and onto the charred porch roof to
enter the second floor of the house. Small patches of fire were
still igniting and dying away on the front porch of the house as
firefighters fought the fire in the upper levels.

Tower 1, which had its ladder extended to the attic level of the
house, ventilated the house, according to McCormack. At first,
light smoke was coming out of the attic, but then the smoke
darkened and thickened. Then, flames started shooting out from the
attic.

Tower 1’s ladder had to back away as flames shot out of the
attic, to which a few residents along the sidewalk of Jackson
Avenue said “whoa.” Firefighters used a fire hose and the fire hose
on Tower 1 to subdue the flames from the attic.

Firefighters were very verbal on the scene. At one point, they
sounded the horn and siren on Tower 1 as the smoke thickened so
firefighters inside would hear and back out of the building. At
that point, firefighters could be seen coming out of the building
and catching their breath along the sidewalks.

Black water was also seen running down from the Jackson Avenue
side of the house, and a small stream of water was flowing down
Kennedy Street.

A lamp that was still illuminated inside the house could be seen
through a front window as firefighters were battling the blaze.

McCormack said the damage to the house is extensive.

“There’s severe damage to the first floor,” he said. “The front
room was extensively damaged.” He said there was also damage to the
upstairs and attic.

McCormack said the American Red Cross did contact the owners.
However, the owners chose to stay with friends.

Firefighters were back in station at 6:15 p.m., according to
McCormack.

On top of the fire call, the station received three ambulance
calls at 6:31 p.m. on Park Street, at 6:31 p.m. on North Center
Street and at 6:35 p.m. on South Kendall Avenue. The station
responded to all the calls, and McCormack said that Angell was even
on one of the ambulance calls.